I believe things can always be improved, and I'm probably a harsher critic about things I myself am involved in and care about a lot. Ignite is one of those things, and I reiterate my challenge to you Justin to get involved and help us all keep raising the bar!

I'd also like to clarify that I, too, was having a decent time until I
tried on a new value system. At that point, you could have handed me
a free ice cream cone that was the size of my head and I still would
have complained about something — probably Ignite's lack of options
for the lactose-intolerant.

My concerns have less to do with Ignite itself than they do with the
ways individuals strain incoming information through their own
prejudices, and whether there's a way to improve upon the expected
results.

So don't worry about me; worry about Ignite. You've obviously done a
great job at getting people interested in the format, the material and
the camaraderie that it offers. If the bulk of your attendees are
pleased, then you're doing a good job. If YOU'RE not pleased, that's
when you might want to reconsider the material or the approach.

As for you daring me to lead by example, wouldn't I therefore need to
dare you to accept my proposal? ;)

We have a panel of 20 judges who vote on what proposals get selected, but we never really know what kind of a night we're going to have until the day of, because the actual talks often take a different shape than what we imagined reading the proposals. In this case, 3 of the speakers who were not covering artistic subjects canceled at the last minute, which I can see might have unbalanced the night in some way for you. By the tone of this post, I imagine you would have really enjoyed the counterpoint of “Why I Don't Want Children (or, How My Uterus Became a Shriveled Walnut)”. If you'd like to be on that panel feel free to email me at mike@ignitebaltimore.com.

Also, I dare you to propose a talk for Ignite #6 where you “lead by example”.

This post was mentioned on Twitter by maryloukunkle: http://bit.ly/alZoA4 good blog post by @JustinKownacki…

I know, I know: I'm a lover of the arts, so it's hard for me to rail
against them from a financial point of view. But the simple truth is,
the more reliant anyone's future is on the generosity of others, the
less freedom and potential s/he has to make use of.

On the other hand, I don't believe all art is supposed to
automatically be “product” or “commodity,” either. There's room for a
wide variety of artists and their approaches to survival. But
realistically, there are only so many donations to go around. It's
like unemployment benefits; eventually, people have to find other ways
to fund their dreams.